Atlantic Antic – The Biggest Street Festival in NY

On Sunday, 29 September I and a couple of friends went to Atlantic Antic, a street festival taking place in Brooklyn, which attracts thousands of people every year. It’s the biggest festival of its kind in New York. Before the event, I read that „on this day, Atlantic Avenue turns into a true ocean of goodies, dominated by the celebration of the tradition of food, art, music, shopping and – most of all – entertainment.

Well, so much was true: the festival was huge, so much so its sheer size far exceeded our expectations. The content itself didn’t rise up to them, though. It was just as announced: there were supposed to be restaurant and boutique owners, street musicians – and all of them were to convince people to buy their particular product. That was just what happened. But instead of unusual products and various rarities, which we wouldn’t normally be able to find, almost every block offered food. That in itself wouldn’t be bad, but all food was basically alike: grilled meat, lemonade and candied apples. There were also a few stands with home baked products. After two hours of walking we decided to skip the rest of the fair. 

I’m sure we could have found some interesting items, but the overwhelming crowd (which at times made you stop, since the number of participants disabled you from moving eitrer way) discoureged us from exploring. It was still worth going there to do people-watching: fashion sense of some of the African-American women, along with their colorful outfits and hats, was truly inspiring. Maybe it would have been easier to walk around and shop if we went the way of people who walked with a beer in their hand. Every time I passed a wise guy like that, I though they came better prepared than I did. Maybe I’ll make another attempt next year. And probably, I’ll be wielding this cool tipple in my hand.

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